History tucked away in a box

It's one of Evansville's best kept secrets, hundreds of photographs of area history tucked away in boxes on the third floor of the University of Southern Indiana's Rice Library. Soon, however, those images and other items will begin to become available through an online project of the Indiana State Library. Among the images are numerous pictures from Evansville's African-American community, the 1937 flood and Downtown Evansville.

Serge Giachetti / Courier & Press Connie Rendfeld of the Indiana State Library on Thursday teaches employees at the University of Southern Indiana's Rice Library how to build a digital gallery online to display their archive of local historical photographs.

Serge Giachetti / Courier & Press A group of photos from the Afred Porter collection of Lincoln High School from the '40s and '50s are ready to be digitized for the online library at USI's David L. Rice Library. These are among the 300 to 400 photos that will be available to view online.

Serge Giachetti / Courier & Press Historical photos sit in a display case as an example of the types of photos kept on the third floor of USI's library.

Photo courtesy of the David L. Rice Library This photograph from about 1920 is one of those in the collection of the David L. Rice Library at USI.

Photo courtesy of the David L. Rice Library This photo from 1978, donated by Brad Awe, shows Evansville's Riverfront.

Photo courtesy of the David L. Rice Library This photo, from 1978, shows Main Street from Third Street. It was donated by Brad Awe.

Photo courtesy of the David L. Rice Library This photograph, taken in 1922, shows Owen and Company Store on the corner of Church and Main streets in New Harmony, Ind. It was donated by Don Blair.

Photo courtesy of the David L. Rice Library This photograph from 1944 shows L&N Train Station.

Photo courtesy of the David L. Rice Library 1937 Flood

Photo courtesy of the David L. Rice Library This photo from around 1920 shows the Indiana Five band from Evansville.

Photo courtesy of the David L. Rice Library This photo, taken around 1920, shows Evansville's waterfront.

Photo courtesy of the David L. Rice Library This photo from around 1950 shows a Thanksgiving scene at Lincoln High School.

Photo courtesy of the David L. Rice Library This photo from aroung 1950 shows a Lincoln High School home economics class.

Serge Giachetti / Courier & Press Old historical photos sit in a display case as an example of the types of photos kept on the third floor of the David L. Rice Library at USI.